Cal Men's Basketball Film Room: Baseline Cuts

A Madsen staple in both years, consistently well executed

Photo Courtesy Rob Hwang

This is a short article highlighting a couple fun plays from the CSU-Bakersfield win, and how it is consistent with what we saw from Coach Madsen’s team last year.

Here’s a play from early in the game. Jovan Blacksher, Jr. is probing the defense from the top. As he reaches the low post, the defense collapses on him. Joshua Ola-Joseph cuts from the corner position. Blacksher executes an eye-pleasing no-look bounce pass and JOJ finishes with the slam.

The second play is late in the game. Lee Dort receives the entry pass at the high post. Blacksher clears out so it’s only Dort and BJ Omot on that side of the floor. Dort rotates and sees the streaking Omot. Dort completes the bounce pass and Omot finishes with the slam.

A few things to point out on these plays;

• I love the little jab step towards the top that both JOJ and Omot execute. In Omot’s case, his defender bit hard on the feint, freeing up the baseline cut.

• Look at where the other players (notably DJ Campbell and Andrej Stojakovic) are at the end of both plays. The weakside rotation is consistent, with a player at the top and a wing player able to receive a pass if the cutting player needs to kick the ball back out.

• In the second play, the bounce pass from Dort is not as easy as he makes it look. Dort displays very good footwork as he rotates around, and executes the angled bounce pass in rhythm.

Here’s a clip from last year’s victory over Santa Clara. The Tyson/Kennedy action is extremely similar to the first play with Blacksher and JOJ.

There are other consistencies, notably with player rotation and that jab step prior to the cut.

Coach Madsen has repeatedly talks about repetition in his drills and sets. At least for this set and execution, the repetition has definitely paid off.